Network users, such as Internet users, receive large volumes of messages, such as e-mails. Some of these messages pertain to business or professional subject matter, others pertain to people, events and activities of interest to the user, and still others pertain to advertisements. Some messages are sent specifically to one particular recipient, and others are broadcast to large numbers of recipients. The content of a message, the identity of the author of the messages, and the identity of the sender may all have a relationship to the user's level of interest in the message.
A given user may receive a volume of messages great enough that it becomes a time burden to give even cursory review to each received message. Accordingly, users can benefit from having tools and techniques for coping with a volume of received e-mail, to help determine which messages require relatively greater or lesser amounts of attention, time, or priority.